“It’s not necessarily that people make mistakes or have regrets or seek forgiveness; it’s whether or not the person launching the charge is authentic in their own life and can actually be pure enough to make such a charge. That’s what I think most people can look at when they evaluate people’s character.”

So let me translate that a little: “It doesn’t matter if an allegation against Trump is true. What matters is whether or not the person making the allegation is pure.

This sounds like an earnest but slightly dim underling trying to take the advice of a spin advisor. Which is probably exactly what it is.

Well, this is bad news. Britain’s Science Ministry has decided that their new-build polar research vessel will bear the name “David Attenbourough” rather then “Boaty McBoatface” the far-better name selected by popular vote in March.

The Brits have no sense of humor — things would have gone the other way in, say, New Zealand. Maybe Australia. [NYTimes].

For a hundred years or so we’ve been fighting over oil. The smart money ( here, for instance) says that soon more of us will be fighting over water. More countries, that is. Individuals, tribes, families, and regions have been fighting over water forever, some of the fighting pretty close to home, but the next long-term global conflict might be over rice.

In this El Nino year, rice harvests are expected to plummet in the four Asian countries 1 where 60% of the world’s rice is grown. Rice is the staple food of around 50% of the world’s population and provides something like 21% of the wold’s caloric energy. A rice shortage means increased hunger and increased hunger means trouble,

That is, the monsoon countries of India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. ↩

Forget robins. I know it’s Spring when the heifers are moved into the calving pastures. Boulder is surrounded by open space, much of it used for pasturing cattle (mostly Black Angus for some reason) and my relentless walking keeps me informed of what’s happening south and east of town. The best trails for walking follow watercourses and the watercourses also provide the best pasturage. The cows will stay until the calves are mobile, then they’ll be moved to higher pastures. I like cows. I don’t eat them.

The llama lives permanently in a private pasture adjacent to the cows. His (her?) pasture is a ways away from the trail and she (he?) stays away from the busy road to the South, so I don’t have a good photo even though I’ve walked by the pasture many times.

I never had any doubt (because HOT SAUCE, right?), but the city of Irwindale has dropped it’s lawsuit against Huy Fong Foods, makers of Sriracha chili sauce, so the factory is not a “public nuisance” and won’t be moving to Texas, who I’m sure would love to have them.